Broadway Halloween Parade Needs a Hero by September 6

For the past five years, the Broadway Halloween Parade has been a favored activity of Denver’s spooky-loving crowd, bringing out homemade floats and clever costumes in an event enjoyed by all ages.

The parade is scheduled for October 19 this year, but it may not happen at all, owing to an unexpected $26,000 bill for pedestrian barricades that organizers can't cover. The parade is looking to raise the needed funds by September 6, just over a week from now.

“We have a parade planning committee that we brought together, and we're like, ‘Okay, how can we do this?’” says Luke Johnson, president of the Broadway Merchants Association, which puts on the parade. “The more that we looked into it, the more it became clear that what the parade essentially needs is a hero. We need somebody to come along and give a big $20,000 to $25,000 sponsorship to really even think about doing this.”

The Broadway Halloween Parade has become extremely popular in its short history, with over 30,000 people showing up last year, according to Johnson. The BMA was always happy to see larger crowds show up, but with more people came more safety risks.

Johnson says the BMA knew a crowd-control plan was necessary for the parade’s 2024 iteration after last year, when crowds didn’t listen to directions from volunteers about where to go and which places to avoid. While there weren’t any safety incidents, the BMA didn’t want to wait for an incident to happen to take action.

When the BMA met with the Denver Police Department in July to work up the safety plan for the special event permit for the parade, the DPD said barricades were the best solution.

Johnson says the BMA agrees that barriers will help, but didn’t anticipate the cost, quoted at $25,992. The BMA looked into setting up barricades on its own, but learned that that would be too time-consuming to ask of volunteers. Other solutions like yellow caution tape or snow fencing weren’t safe enough for DPD to approve, Johnson adds.

“The Denver Police Department is engaged in conversation and problem-solving with the permit applicant and did not take lightly the financial impact when establishing the pedestrian fencing requirement,” DPD says in a statement. “The pedestrian fencing requirement is consistent with other permitted parades that draw large crowds of spectators, including the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Stock Show Parade and Parade of Lights.”

Organizers have since realized that fundraising is the Halloween parade's only hope in 2024.

“We've run it on a shoestring budget every year,” Johnson says. “We've tried to keep this absolutely as cheap as possible. ... Unfortunately, I don't think that can continue, because we just don't have the money to cover the basics to keep it going, and that sucks.”

Until 2023, it was free for anyone to be part of the parade, which led to a true “small-town feel” according to Johnson. Even last year, it was $100 or less if for-profit companies wanted to have floats; any business on Broadway, neighborhood organization or nonprofit could still participate for free.

This year, businesses on Broadway and neighborhood organizations can still participate for free, but everyone else will have to pay $250. In previous years, there was a $500 sponsor level that has been raised to $1,000 or more. The BMA is looking for a presenting sponsor who can spend at least $20,000 to make the parade happen, however.

In addition to the cost of barricades, the parade has around $13,000 of additional expenses. Those costs include porta-potties, extra trash cans, permits and bagging every meter on Broadway along the parade route. The budget also includes small stipends for the parade planning staff

Even before the extra costs this year, Johnson says raising enough to cover the costs has been hard. He’s given thousands of dollars through his Luke & Co. Fine Pet Supply & Outfitter business to fund the parade, as well.

Along with the barricade cost, the porta-potty cost will likely be higher this year as people won’t be able to cross the street in as many places, he says, so extra facilities will be required.

Even if the Broadway Halloween Parade gets a presenting sponsor this year, the challenges won't go away in 2025. But a coalition of Broadway businesses is currently working to form a Business Improvement District for the corridor, which will have a budget set aside for the parade if it successfully forms in 2026 as planned.

“If we can get there, I think [the parade is] going to be okay,” Johnson says. “It's just going to be getting through this year and next year that are going to be the challenge.”

Since the Denver Post broke news of the parade’s troubles on August 23, the BMA has received around $1,300 in donations from community members and around $5,000 to $6,000 from sponsors. With $2,000 the association had left in its reserves from last year, it has about $9,300 of the $42,000 it likely needs, Johnson says.

That’s why he's hopeful a presenting sponsor will keep the parade going. His pitch:

“It's not a religious or political event, and it's centered around kids,” he says. “You have the goodwill of not only supporting a community event, but the fact that this year you're saving the event. That's huge. In my mind, if you're a company big enough to have that kind of budget, being able to say that you saved a community event like this is huge.”

Even those who don’t have $20,000 budgets can help through the donation page on the BMA website. Johnson points out that if each of the 30,000 parade attendees from last year gave $1, then the event could go on.

“If it's worth it to you and your family to give $1 a head to come out and see this, then we'd ask you to give to make it happen this year,” Johnson says